Trips of Discovery

Make the best of your journey, make some memories.

Category: Boating

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It’s time to head South or is it?

Estimated reading time 15 minutes – SBFL 10* – PLANNED  – “We had been home from northern waters only a few weeks when the first tinges of red and gold along Church Creek told us it was time to head south. As crew, in addition to Mike and Bill Gay, we signed aboard Mrs. Virginia Finnegan, an editorial assistant at the National Geographic Society and my close colleague for 21 years,” wrote Allan C. Fisher, Jr., in his book, America’s Inland Waterway.   So, what’s this quote about? As much as I have felt the same way, that it’s “time to head south” since mid-October, here we are, grounded on land due to the pandemic. We’ve...

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Tips for cruising through America’s Great Loop – Part 3

If you can dream it, you can do it. —Walt Disney … Estimated reading time 17 minutes  –  In Part 1 of this story, perhaps you started to dream about America’s Great Loop and got a glimpse of what it is to be a Looper through Phyllis and Dick Radlinski’s eyes and experiences. They left the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 2014, went north to New York, and from there passed on to Canada’s great canal network. After piloting through Canadian waters, they transited through two historic canal systems and 90 locks—yes, 90 locks—then Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron down to Michigan. In Part 2, vicariously, through the Radlinskis’ experiences,...

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Tips for cruising through America’s Great Loop – Part 2

It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you begin . … Estimated reading time 16 minutes – In Part 1 of this story, perhaps you started to dream about America’s Great Loop and got a glimpse of what it is to be a Looper through Phyllis and Dick Radlinskis’ eyes and experiences. They left the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 2014, went North to New York, and from there passed on to Canada’s great canal network. After piloting through Canadian waters, they transited through two historic canal systems and 90 locks—yes, 90 locks—then Georgian Bay and the North Channel of Lake Huron. In September 2014, they finally traveled down the west coast...

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Tips for cruising through America’s Great Loop – Part 1

Become a Looper and have the adventure of a lifetime . … Estimated reading time 16 minutes —  Let’s start with the word “Looper.” When I say Looper, I’m not referring to a futuristic action-thriller movie nor to a garden looper. I’m referring to a status that you would earn, becoming part of an exclusive club of boaters who have done, one or more times, America’s Great Loop by boat, kayak, or whatever floats safely as a watercraft. If you have no boat, that is not a problem—find someone and become a crew member. Remember the old saying, the smartest boater is the one who has a friend with a boat. So you have no excuse...